Grill Training at Chefsutra – Ulsoor, Bangalore

There are times when we eat food, we wonder how a specific chef would have prepared it, what would be the ingredients and the cooking style used in making. And then we end up trying to compare the same with the way it is done in our home. Later we think how it would be to make something usually made in restaurant at our home and may be also call some friends & show-off some of the preparations. Well, I guess cooking food in a grill is exactly what it would be using.

We are traditionally aware of the grill from the restaurants that say that ‘Grill Vegetable’, ‘Grilled Paneer’, ‘Veg Grill Sandwich’ and many other grill food. There might be times when even look at the way the grills are used and wondered if the same can be replicated. then we think of taking a grill that would be used for cooking these grill items. When we think of buying a grill, the first thought you get is the ‘Grill Microwave oven’. Well, that is a very crude kind of grilling machine that we might be coz we end up trying to buy something that has best of everything.

This is when you get introduced to a ‘Grill’ itself which does the job a traditional microwave can’t do.

Weber is one of the leading grill making company’s that makes different type of grills. And guess what this is not a company that has just started, its 65 years old ie., it started way back in 1950. Well, imagine an opportunity to learn using those grills by a Chef who has was appointed by the company. This is what exactly happened few days back. Chef Melvin was with us teaching how to use the various type of grills. And the entire event was organised by ‘Chefstura’ which is a company that sells these grills and also specializes in giving items that can be used on a grill. As they say – Click->Deliver->Cook. The ask is to just cook the items they give on the grill and your food will be ready to be consumed.

Let me share a little insight into the various things that Chef told us, in terms of the grill.

Types of Grills

There are various types of grills depending on the heating method that it uses. Well, there are some that are traditional which uses charcoal and there are also some that uses the ‘gas’. But as they say it is more fun cooking with the ‘charcoal’ which might help in preserving the essential nutrition within the food.

Size of the Grills

Depending on the usage, you can pick up any size of the grill coz I saw that they had smaller ones and huge ones as well. If you are looking to host 10 people then a smaller one might be good. But if you want to cook a lot ie., say for 25-50 people it might be better off to take a bigger one that can cook many more items.

Process of using Grills

This is one of the most important part where you need to know how to bring the grill to a shape to be able to start grilling you items on them. The simple way is as follows –

1. Remove the cooking rail on which cooking is actually done

2. Open the handle from underneath the bowl

3. You will get this lighting ‘Paraffin Cubes that need to be place don the grill

4. Then you will then this Chimney starter over the cubes

5. The charcoal pieces can be put on them

6. Try putting a newspaper onto of the cubes just at the bottom of chimney starter

7. The cubes need to be lit after lifting the chimney starter

8. Once the fire catches up the ‘charcoal’ starts to burn

9. Need to wait until we see white ashes on top of the charcoal

10. Once that is done then the charcoal is ready, you will ned to then pour the charcoal onto charcoal-grate

11. You can spread it evenly on the charcoal grate

12. Then the cooking grill can be put and then the grill is ready to be used

Get more idea regarding the above mentioned by looking the video mentioned below –

The way you place the charcoal also defines the type of cooking that you would be planned to do. Chef showed us specifics of the styles :

Direct Cooking

All the charcoal is put all over the grill and then it is evenly spread.

Indirect Cooking

Charcoal is just put at one side of the grill. The food items are kept on the other side, we expect only one part of food to be heated.

Circular Cooking

This is a very populate cooking method where in the charcoal will be put around the grill and then the center part will not have the charcoal. This is traditionally used for cooking pizza(s).

50-50

In this method there would be charcoal on either side and the center line will be lift as is empty.

Depending on the food that is being cooked, different types of cooking methods are used.

Features

The grill has various features including the lid that is closed during cooking. There is a cook that comes out which can help in holding the bowl when it is taken off. Then when you close the bowl there is this temperature indicator which shows the current temperature. But you will still need to keep watch in the preparation as it does not help in reducing or increasing temperature.

Cooking Food

I wanted share info on the various food items that we cooked and also tried them myself.

Pizza

This was the first item that as tried out. And Chef Kumud had come up with the recipe with various veggies, cheese topped and wheat+rava based pizza-base.

We ended up putting it on the grill with the ‘Circular cooking’ set on the grill.

The pizza came out pretty good coz the grill did a great job of spreading the heat and the cheese just melted and it was good to eat the grilled pizza.

Paneer Tikka

This is another dish that is very common and most favored by many veggies. Well, the paneer was already made and there was capsicum and tomato, all put on a stick. Now, it was our job to put it on the grill and pour some masala on it.

You need to be very watchful during Paneer preparation otherwise it will get burnt. Isn’t that complain many times we have in the restaurants J

You need to also add some oil to then that help in heating.

And sometime later you need to keep turning the paneer pieces.

Finally the paneer when it came out, was super hot. You need to consume it slowly. The paneer quality was anyways superb, the grill cooking made it even better.

Grill Vegetables

This was a simple dish in which veggies and cut and slightly boiled. They are put in a pan and then we used the ‘Gas Grill’ for this. You need to keep it aside for awhile and then keep tossing it so that there is equal distribution of heat.

It was fun to actually preparing and eating something that you get in restaurants J

Aloo Tikki

This is another traditionally favored grill item by veggie lovers. The same method as that used for ‘Paneer’ need to be used while making this.

I guess these were the set of food items that we used the grill. Later chef finally showed us how to use it for making a desert.

Desert

Grill Pineapple + Cinnamon + Vanilla Icecream

In this the pineapple is cut and place evenly on the grill. You need to keep checking if the grills marks come up on the pineapple. And then we need to turn it around and then when its ready.

You can add some cinnamon on top of it, some light sugar power and few other ingredients. Then you serve in such a way that you get to take pineapple along with the vanilla ice-cream. It was an awesome experience eating it J

Maintaining Grills

This is very important part of the grill usage. It is necessary to some of the things lke –

– Soon after cooking is over, you need to take brush and rub off the food remains from the grill. It might sometimes be dark that should be removed.

– Charcoal need to be cleaned off after you finish using.

– The powder that is below in the grill also needs to be cleaned.

Overall after going through the entire experience, it felt real good coz we all had aprons and the items that were listed above were also tried.

And ontop of that we could meet other fellow foodies who were keen to learn on making grills.

About Chefsutra

They did a great job to call foodies and let them try out the weber grill usage and also cook food on it. They sell grill and the food items that can be used to cook at home on a grill. Special interest was shown for this event by bringing in the Chef from weber and letting us explain. I think it is one of the real good companies that focuses on letting you ‘Cook by yourself’. But the most essential thing is bringing the right ingredients the way you want to the doorstep. Infact, they have various chef’s that contribute to their recipe list.

They would then deliver it to the customers needing them. Personally anyone can goto the firm, share recipe and let it be sold to people.

In Closing

After learning about using grill and cooking and having good food. It was also time for us to get some ‘Certificate’ on the grill usage. Overall it was wonderful experience. This sure does bring out the ‘Chef in all of us’.

My special thanks to ‘Chef Kumud’, ‘Rachita Arora’ – one of the founder of Chefsutra, Chef Melvin from Weber and fellow foodies for sharing a wonderful evening of learning, cooking, eating and enjoying. Looking forward to more such opportunities.